Donald Trump applauded the health care of an African country — Nambia — that doesn’t even exist

As President Donald Trump spoke to African leaders at the United Nations on Wednesday, he made not one but two references to a country called Nambia.

“Nambia’s health system is increasingly self-sufficient,” Trump said approvingly at one point.

Unfortunately, there’s a problem – good health care or not, Nambia doesn’t exist. And so the U.S. president’s laudatory comments about a nonexistent country swiftly invited ridicule online, with many suggesting that Trump had created an entirely new nation by combining two existing ones – Zambia and Namibia.

“Let’s talk #Namibia!

Donald loves to take vacations,In relatively unknown nations,And so he visits, when he can,Nambia and Covfefestan.

— Don’t Do That Donald (@DontDoItDonald) September 21, 2017

Nambia is the world’s leading producer of covfefe

— Philip Gourevitch (@PGourevitch) September 21, 2017

Say what you want but #Nambia makes the best damn cup of Covfefe this side of Bowling Green.

— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) September 20, 2017

A White House transcript of Trump’s comments corrected his error, making clear that the president had not intended to invent a new nation and had, in fact, been referring to the very real country of Namibia, which is in southern Africa.

So how did Namibians react to “Nambia”?

Namibia isn’t often the subject of Western attention. The country of just 2 million was granted independence in 1990 after a long civil war with neighboring South Africa. It is perhaps best known internationally for its long-standing diamond mining industry.

Hage Geingob, Namibia’s U.S.-educated president, was in the room with Trump as he made his speech. In public at least, he offered no reaction to the suggestion that he was the leader of “Nambia.” Graham Hopwood, executive director of Namibia’s independent Institute for Public Policy Research, said this might be because of diplomatic protocol but also suggested that the gaffe was likely to have been overlooked by Geingob anyway for the sake of good ties between Namibia and the United States.